BEE-KBKPER S MANUAL. 7 



HER FECUNDATION. 



The fecundation of the queen has ever been a subject 

 of deep interest to naturaUsts, and it is not at the pre- 

 sent day so fully decided, in what manner, or by what 

 agency it is effected, as to put the question entirely to 

 rest ; and I may safely add, that the day will never come, 

 when this long disputed point will be so fully cleared up 

 as to silence all opposition to the now generally received 

 opinion of the case. 



Some naturalists and apiarians have supposed that the 

 queen is seZf-impregnated ; that is, that the fecundating 

 germ of the ovary is inherent in her, and when her eggs 

 are laid, that the drones fertilize them, and generate the 

 principle of animal life by incubation, or sitting upon 

 them. Others have supposed that a vivifying seminal 

 aura exhaled from the drone, penetrates the body of the 

 queen, and that produces impregnation. This opinion 

 arose from the fact, that a strong odor is sometimes ex- 

 haled from them. 



Naturalists rightly supposed, that a sexual union did 

 take place between the queen and drones in some man- 

 ner, but how, or when, was beyond the scope of their 

 knowledge, since such an union had never been beheld 

 by mortal eyes. However, during the latter part of the 

 eighteenth century, light seemed to dawn upon this long 

 hidden mystery, which had lain shrouded in darkness 

 for thousands of years. The fact that the sexual union of 

 many species of winged insects takes place in the air, 

 while on the wing, did at last, after centuries upon cen- 



